Cornyn demands answers from AG Holder over death of internet activist Aaron Swartz

After the tragic suicide of an internet activist under investigation by the Justice Department, many of his supporters are blaming his death on the federal government. And Texas Sen. John Cornyn has some questions for Attorney Generl Eric Holder.

Cornyn, a San Antonio Republican, challenged Holder today regarding the circumstances surrounding the tragic death Aaron Swartz, who Cornyn called a “brilliant technologist and a committed activist for the causes in which he believed in – including notably the freedom of information.”

Swartz, who helped develop the RSS system and co-founded Reddit, hanged himself in his Brooklyn apartment on Friday January 11th. He was only 26 years old. Swartz’s supporters are holding the Justice Department responsible for his apparent suicide, and Cornyn is pressing for answers.

At the time of his death, Swartz was being prosecuted by the Department of Justice for allegedly stealing millions of documents from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s JSTOR system. While the JSTOR system did not press charges against Swartz, the U.S. Attorneys Office went ahead with the prosecution.

Swartz was facing up to 35 years in prison and a $1 million fine. Matters for Swartz worsened when he was hit with a superseding indictment, which could have led to 13 felony charges, longer imprisonment, and greater fines.

Sen. Cornyn’s response to the “aggressive prosecution” came in the form of seven strongly worded questions regarding the prosecutorial conduct of Swartz’s case.

Sen. Cornyn’s questions speculate that the course of action taken was inappropriate and biased by previous involvement with Swartz.

“Was it the intention of the U.S. Attorney and/or her subordinates to ‘make an example’ of Mr. Swartz? Please explain.”

While awaiting the answers to Cornyn’s questions, people around the country are demanding the removal of U.S. District Attorney for Massachusetts Carmen Ortiz from office. The petition is posted at whitehouse.gov, and so far has over 40,000 signatures.